


Follow the Yellow Flowers

by tangerine (arte)



Series: Bees and Retirement [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crazy Castiel, Episode: s07e23 Survival of the Fittest, Gen, Season/Series 07
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-04
Updated: 2015-01-04
Packaged: 2018-03-05 08:11:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3112478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arte/pseuds/tangerine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Are you," the demon opens his mouth after a curious length of silence. "Talking about my bees?"</p><p>Castiel turns to the bees in question, and pretty much receives an unanimous response. To correct the demon's misconception, he translates the bees' reaction which boils down to, "The bees are certain that they don't belong to anybody. Except to the queen, of course."</p><p> </p><p>  <em>In which Cas encounters Cain while he's not quite in his right mind.</em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Follow the Yellow Flowers

Castiel is in a field of flowers. Bees are buzzing around, and he feels so happy that he feels guilty. He can see the whole plan here, nothing more to add or substract, but he had done it again and took the plan away from the garrison. He thinks of how relieved they must have been to recieve an order that finally makes sense, to keep the Keeper of the Word safe. He took the satisfaction of seeing through the mission away from them when he was the reason they were feeling lost in the first place. Should he contact them? But they're not calling for him, and the last time he went to see them-

_(Now I'm making the choices, Hestor said with eyes full of grief and fury, but she was stopped from making her choice as a blade struck her from behind. Why, why, her eyes asked, why should you live and I die, you who-)_

"Hello," Castiel greets the nearest bee. "Where're you from?"

She signals him to wait until she finishes her work, then kindly dances for him. She complains that it's getting harder and harder to find decent quality flowers. He nods, sympathetic, and asks her if she's aware of a garden not so far away from here, which is full of rudbekias and cornflowers. She says no, and asks him if he could show her the place. He's only happy to acquisce.

The bee calls her family around her, excited, and all of them go together with Castiel. The youngest one squees in delight at the sight of the purple and yellow flowers, and the oldest one proposes that they should share some of their honey with Castiel to show their gratitude. 

"Oh, no, no, it's perfectly alright. I didn't expect anything from you, and you should know that I don't eat. It would be incredibly remiss of me to let you waste something valuable on me," he says, flustered, but the bees remain adamant. They insist that their honey must have some use for him even if he himself doesn't eat it.

 _But the honey is all we can give,_ cries the youngest one. _Is it so useless to you that you don't want it?_ At this point, Castiel is alarmed to find out that the bees are getting distressed and that he's the cause of it.

"No, of course not, you are amazing. I'm so sorry for having made you doubt yourself," he hastens to reassure them, and an idea occurs to him. "Speaking of apologies, do you think honey would make a good apoplogy gift? I- there are many who I must make amends with."

The bees buzz _yes, yes, yes, your apology would be made best with our honey_ , pleased with him now that he accepted their gift.

They lead him back to their hive. It's situated in front of a small cottage, inside a wooden box. They ask him to wait awhile as they inform the rest of the family about the new batch of flowers they had found and the gift they must prepare. They assure him that no one would actually object to giving him a gift.

After a short debate, Castiel and the bees agree that Castiel should be the one to collect honey. It would be far more efficient. He empties the small plastic bag he has used to carry Monopoly pieces-he liked the shape of them- and rolls up his sleeves. The bees, feeling very helpful, gives him a few pointers. Castiel nods dutifully, feeling peace and serenity washing over him.

He's still in the middle of collecting honey when he hears a rough voice asking, "What are you doing?" 

Castiel peeks behind him, and finds an unfamiliar demon. He's a little disappointed. He thought it must be Meg, who finally realized that she was terrible at hide and seek and came to watch the bees with him. 

For a second, he thinks he ought to fly away right now. He meant it when he said he didn't want to fight anymore and that included demons. However, if he leaves now without the honey, the bees might really think that he considers them useless and the thought makes him feel sick. 

Castiel opts for peaceful talking, and hopes that it would work. He doesn't want to run, but it's better than fighting.

"I'm collecting honey. They were gracious enough to allow me this gift," he says earnestly to show how important the honey is, and at the same time hurries his hands along so that he won't have to leave without it. "I tried to decline, but now I realized that I shouldn't have turned down their gesture of solidarity. I feel very honored."

"Are you," the demon opens his mouth after a curious length of silence. "Talking about my bees?"

Castiel turns to the bees in question, and pretty much receives an unanimous response. To correct the demon's misconception, he translates the bees' reaction which boils down to, "The bees are reasonably certain that they don't belong to anybody. Except to the queen, of course."

The demon lets out a frustrated growl. Castiel tenses. He's now finished, but leaving abruptly would be considered rude. 

"Let me ask you for the last time," the demon lowers his voice instead of using his fists, and for that, Castiel is grateful. "What is an angel doing here? Is Heaven trying to recruit me for the fight against Leviathans?"

Castiel starts and looks up. Hearing the name zolted something out of him and he's reminded once again how silent the garrison has been. Of course, they would want nothing to do with him, but surely at least Inias would-

"I'm retired, not dead," The demon remarks dryly, mistaking his silence for something else. It doesn't matter, because Castiel isn't listening anymore. "Demons love to chatter. They seemed to be waiting for the mutually assured distruction between angels and Leviathans, although it seems like Leviathans are winning by miles for now."

Castiel shakes his head. No, that's not-

A housefly flies past him.

"Did you know that houseflies always hum at the same note?" Castiel blurts out abruptly, and feels that it's a pity that not many people seem to appreciate this fact. "They're very reliable. But they sometimes feel sad because they're unable to create harmony by themselves-"

"What're you talking about?" 

The demon frowns, but Castiel goes on determindely because this is a good thing to know.

"-and there're not many who would listen to them. Of course, their short life span causes a bit of challenge, but-"

"Angel!" The demon barks. This time, Castiel stops. "What're you playing at?"

_(No, you're playing sorry, Dean bit out with so much disappointment, and-)_

Castiel stares ahead with wide eyes. He's mind is blank but it's nowhere peaceful. If anything, it feels like trying to contain a lighting with a flimsy layer of cotton.

The sound of buzzing registers at last. The bees. Right, what has he been doing?

"Your gift was wonderful," he stammers out quickly as the pressure builds inside him. He feels like suffocating. "I'm truly thankful. But I, I have to-"

Then he's in a different place before he realizes that he has flown away.

-

"I'm sorry for the way I left last time," Cas apologizes, ashamed. He has two sandwiches to make, but he needed to come here before he embarked on the whole quest. "I came as quickly as I could." 

The bees are very understanding, to his chagrin. They want to know if he has used their honey for good use.

Can it be called a good use if it was given to a demon?

Then again, the honey successfully deterred Crowley from attacking anyone, and the demon even promised his assistance in stopping the current crisis, so in retrospect, the honey has achieved quiet a lot.

_(What we don't do is make another deal with a demon, the words were hurled like a knife, and there is a brief flame of resentment, because oh, so Crowley and Meg don't count as demons any longer, is that it-)_

"It was most helpful, thank you," he firmly assures, then turns as he hears the door to the small cottage opening.

"You again," the demon from before sighs as he leans against the door. "Castiel, isn't it?"

Castiel doesn't answer. He's conflicted. This time, he can't truly leave because this is supposed to be an apology visit, and it doesn't seem fair to run off on an apology visit. On the other hand, hearing his name makes him itchy to spread his wings and hide.

"Were you planning to go incognito?" the demon reads his expression anyway and questions, sounding amused. "You should have dealt with that trench coat of yours in that case. It has become quite symbolic, I heard."

"Technically, it's an overcoat," Castiel replies, eyes averted and clenching at the lapels of his coat. He doesn't want to be recognized, which means he shouldn't have anything symbolic around him, but he can't let go.

It's all he has.

"Interesting, but that's not what I want to know. Why am I being harassed by a supposedly dead angel? Or should I say, the former God?"

Castiel flinches. "I don't want to fight."

"Really," the demon raises his brow skeptically. "And you decided that visiting me of all people would prove your peaceful nature?"

"I came for the bees, I don't want anything from you," Castiel says, desperate. He wishes the demon would leave him alone.

He eyes the sun nervously. He should go console a pig if he wants to put hams in the sandwiches. He doesn't want to be late and make the food go to waste. How much time would it take, an hour? Two? But then again, how much consolation do you need before you can willingly let your self die for some stranger? 

"Do you know how Colette is doing in Heaven?" 

Castiel blinks as the question enters his mind. Truth be told, the demon appears as surprised as he.

"Forget about it," the demon snaps just as Castiel says, "I'm sorry." 

A brief staring match ensues. The angel is the first too look away. 

"I don't know," he fiddles with his shirt. "I can't go check."

Castiel's eyes roam restlessly, then land on the demon's arm. Near the crook of an elbow, right undeath the rolled up sleeve.

Time seems to stop.

"Oh," he whispers, numb with revelations. "Maybe it's a punishment, resurrections." It makes too much sense.

Which place offers the healthiest lettuce?

"It seems the bees like you," Castiel raises his head, dazed. The demon sighs. "Only today, okay, wrap up whatever you want with the bees. Then I don't want to see you ever again, you understand?"

There's something in the demon's blue eyes. Castiel feels too drained to think. He stops thinking.

"Yes, I understand."

He needs to go to Normandy.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I'm pretty sure Castiel has yet to meet Cain in the show, but I kept linking crazy!Cas and Cain because of the bees. I thought there would be lots of fics already written about two of them, but there was sad lack of them. Hope you guys enjoyed this fic :)


End file.
